Abstract:This paper outlines the elements of a relational conception of normativity, according to which obligations are directed to other individuals, who have claims against the agent to compliance with them. The paper argues that this general approach promises to illuminate the distinctive features of moral obligation, and that it compares favorably in this respect to other familiar approaches (such as consequentialism, virtue theory, and voluntarism). Morality, on the picture here defended, represents a set of constraints on agency that reflect what we owe to others, just in so far as they are persons with equal moral standing.

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Elvira Möhring

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